89th minute Match against Valencia leveled at 2-2. Barcelona had to win to qualify for Champions League. The chilena completed Rivaldo's hat trick in that match. The circumstances, as well as the goal itself (from the edge of the penalty area!), is why it's one of the club's most iconic goals. Probably my all-time favorite Barca golaso.
His other 2 goals weren’t too shabby either . Probably the best hat trick I’ve seen given context and quality of goals .
Rivaldo's hattrick is the best hattrick. The quality (first is great, second is better and third is out of this world), the context, the drama and Gaspart's celebration. Messi's best hattrick imo, is his first ever. 19 years old
Rivaldo had bowed legs, not as pronounced as Garrincha's, but enough to fool defenders when he dribbled and get the better of keepers when he shot. His shots produced a natural curvature with a lot of power.
Messi has same number of Trophies in last 5 Matches as Ronaldo in last 3 years [emoji88][emoji88][emoji88][emoji88]
Messi's greatest goals as flipbooks: vs. Zaragoza https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=699211463559785 vs. Athletic https://www.reddit.com/r/Barca/comments/wkv45s/one_of_my_favorite_things_i_got_messi_flipbook/
For my money, Ronaldo doesn't score in the 2002 World Cup final without Rivaldo's genius. First goal came from that wicked left foot you mention. Second off a great dummy set up.
Top dribblers in Top 5 leagues. 29 Messi, Ligue 1 16 Eze, Premier League 16 Ejuke, Bundesliga 13 Radonjic, Serie A 11 Carvalho, La Liga
10 dribbles completed at 35 years old. He doesn't need pace to dribble. Sharp movement and passing, combine well with every one except Hakimi. Look like this guy doesn't want to pass.
Messi became the first player to score against 39 different clubs in the CL. Also first player to score in 18 consecutive seasons.
Messi now has 12 through balls in league. Most in Europe. 2 through balls per game. That's scary. A true number 10.
Messi has easily the most throughballs in modern football, since Opta started counting them. If he keeps the pace for 2 per game he will brake easily his record of 56 in 11-12. Most throughballs since 09-10 in Top 5 leagues 09-10 50 Ronaldinho (Messi 25) 10-11 38 Fabregas (Messi 33) 11-12 56 Messi 12-13 48 Totti (Messi 13) 13-14 25 Fabregas (Messi 12) 14-15 34 Messi 15-16 33 Messi 16-17 20 Messi 17-18 22 Neymar (Messi 18) 18-19 31 Messi 19-20 20 Messi 20-21 20 Messi 21-22 18 Messi 22-23 12 Messi
Most throughballs since 09-10 in Top 5 leagues 345 Messi 182 Fabregas 165 Totti 136 David Silva 123 Alexis Sanchez 110 Iniesta 109 Zlatan 108 Xavi 105 Pirlo 99 Özil 93 Cazorla 92 De Bruyne 82 Cassano 81 Neymar ... 65 Cronaldo
Messi ridiculous as always! Where did you get this list? I'd love to see a leaderboard of other stats too like Key Passes, Big Chances Created, Dribbles etc. I have a strange feeling Messi might be leading all of them!
Counted myself from whoscored.com. It's bit tedious, but free information. The list isn't complete, just the players that seemed to have the most. I think you can buy subscription from Opta if you want easily accessible information, not sure how much it's though.